Pentagon’s 747 “Raygun” Botches Another Test

I think I speak for the entire staff of Danger Room — and a good chunk of its readers, too — when I say that I would love America to have a foolproof flying laser cannon blasting missiles out of the sky. Unfortunately, the closest thing the United States has at the moment, the Airborne Laser Test Bed, isn’t quite living up to our fantasies.

But in February, things suddenly started to look up for the tricked-out jumbo jet. The ALTB successfully blasted a missile in mid-flight for the first time. That convinced the Pentagon to add an extra $40 million to the Airborne Laser’s budget for more trials. Missile Defense Agency officials were so psyched, they doubled the range of the next test blast, to 100 miles.

Then, disappointment. After a series of delays, the ALTB’s September trial “ended early when corrupted beam-control software steered the high-energy laser slightly off center, apparently because of a communications software error,” Reuters notes.

The Missile Defense Agency figured they had the problem solved. But, just to be sure, they decided to reduce the ALTB’s October test back to 50 miles.

That didn’t work out so well, either. The MDA says its examining “the intermittent performance of a valve within the laser system.” Meanwhile, the rest of us wait for our raygun.